May was a big month for notable visitors. Robert Ellingwood, Colorado Mountain Club President from 1956-57, visited with library and museum staff to discuss a donation of tremendous historical significance.
Ellingwood's father, Albert Ellingwood, was a prominent CMC member from 1915 until his death in 1934. The elder Ellingwood made many first ascents considered impossible in his day, including Colorado fourteeners Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle, and Kit Carson. After his father's death, the junior Ellingwood collected his father's nine handwritten journals as well as his moutaineering gear. "It has been a dream of mine since 1940 that my father's manuscripts and artifacts find a permanent home in institutions like the American Alpine Club Library and Bradford Washburn Mountaineering Museum", said Ellingwood. Albert Ellingwood died when Robert was just 16. His obituary appears in the June 1934 issue of Trail and Timberline.
Dee Molenaar, American Alpine Club member since 1943 and member of the Third American Karakoram Expedition to K2 in 1953 (an expedition documented in K2: The Savage Mountain), stopped by with his friend (and library volunteer), Bob Ader. Molenaar still supports the AAC in a number of ways; he is an artist and donated two of his paintings for the silent auction at the AAC's 105th Annual Meeting in Bend, Oregon last March.
Photo #1 (left to right, taken by Wendy Hall, Boulder Public Library): CMC Executive Director Kristy Judd, Robert Ellingwood, Museum Director Niña Johnson, Library Director Gary Landeck
Photo #2 (left to right, taken by Gary Landeck): Dee Molenaar, library volunteer Bob Ader
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